Dating back to the early days of Tim Cook's ascension to CEO at Apple, heavy speculation has centered on the company launched a streaming Internet music/radio service to compete with the likes of Pandora.

Throughout 2012, a consistent barrage of sources close to both Apple and the recording industry indicated that talks between Apple and top labels in music have been intense, productive, and ongoing. All parties, it goes without saying, are presumably negotiating a deal that would allow Apple to launch its own dedicated digital radio service.

This week, as files located within iOS 6.1 are probed to new extents, we're uncovering references to an Internet radio service. Although these discoveries don't necessarily confirm the forthcoming launch of such an Apple-branded service, the evidence is certainly compelling.

The Pandora-like service, which would be advertising-supported, has reportedly been held up until now because all parties involved are yet to figure out exactly how they will share ad revenue. Nothing in iOS 6.1 can speak to that reality, of course. But it does at least appear that something big is being prepped within the iOS ecosystem.

I would hope after Ping flopped that Apple would learn that inferior redundant products don't gain traction. There's too much competition in this space from well established players like Pandora, Slacker, Spotify, etc. On top of that this doesn't add value to either the platform or Apple's bottom line. Pandora, even with ads, has struggled to make a profit; too much money is spent on licensing to cover the cost of running the service.